1. Technical Field
This invention relates to the telecommunications field and, more particularly to the field of providing called party control of telecommunications network services including store and forward messaging, media conversion, network conversion, home management and personal telecommunications routing services.
2. Description of the Relevant Art
Telecommunications equipment manufacturers and service providers have begun to provide new services and features for their customers and subscribers never before contemplated. As the availability of such services and features has increased, so has the opportunity for unwanted manual and even automatic calls to the subscriber, "junk" calls advertising unwanted products and services and delivery of unwanted or unneeded facsimile copies, junk E-Mail, junk voice-mail and the like. Also, it has become desirable to prioritize wanted calls, such as emergency calls. As a result, called party control of incoming calls has emerged. Called parties can now control, for example, via call screening, calling party identification and the like the calls that they choose to take or even refuse to take. Call screening, for one, permits the called party to identify the telephone numbers of parties from whom the called party is willing to accept calls. The customer premises equipment or local switch receiving a call compares the telephone number of the calling party identified through calling party number identification, frequently referred to as automatic number identification, with the stored telephone numbers the called party has entered into memory. Only the calling parties identified on the stored memory list may be permitted to connect to the called party. Also, if the calling party is not on the stored memory list, the call is blocked or other action taken such as voicemail. Moreover, through caller identification, a called party may see the telephone number of the calling party and, recognizing or not recognizing the displayed telephone number immediately make a decision as to whether they wish to take the call.
Called parties may own or lease private telecommunications apparatus permitting such called party control or obtain called party control services from their local or long distance carrier. Such apparatus is typically provided with a computer data processor and computer software for controlling the routing and treatment of an incoming call. At the customer's premises, such equipment may take the form of a telephone set, linked station apparatus or at a small or large business, it may take the form of a private branch exchange (PBX).
In the telecommunications network, serving central offices are classified as to their immediate or more remote (long distance) access to the subscriber. There exist five classes of offices from the end office most proximate to the subscriber to the regional toll office, the most remote. All offices besides the end office may be categorized as toll offices since they connect parties typically removed from one another to the extent that the subscriber must pay a premium for the call.
Recently, there has been considerable discussion and activity regarding the avoidance of the toll network comprising toll offices and connecting long distance facilities. With personal computers and access to the so-called Internet, subscribers are today free to communicate, at least via a data link, with subscribers all over the world.
Other networks exist outside the toll and local public switched telephone networks besides the Internet. For example, cellular networks allow subscribers to be reached in their cars, even as they walk down the street via vest pocket phones. Paging systems provide messaging access to a subscriber who is not equipped with a wireless or wired telephone. Consequently, there is a need in regard to local and toll networks for providing access to Internet and cellular networks
It is customary now for a subscriber to have a telephone number at work, an E-Mail address at their computer, a cellular or mobile telephone number, a pager number and a telephone number at home, etc. It is said that cellular growth has created a great need for new area codes to cover the growing demand for new telephone numbers (for the same customers at work, on the move or at home). Thus, there has been created a great need for harmonization of the several services and interfaces among networks. It would be desirable if a subscriber has one telephone number, wherever they are located, and called party control of all such new services so that the called party may be given the freedom to accept or reject incoming calls no matter what media is presently available to them.
As a result of these recent developments, new services are evolving to deal with the new complexities of the telecommunication arts; for example, store and forward messaging provides an opportunity that, when a subscriber is presently unavailable, a message, fax or the like may be recorded and forwarded upon request to a subscriber.
An example of a service under development is media conversion. The facsimile may require conversion to voice or to image data for display. The voice or data may require conversion to data for display on a pager. Network conversion suggests that a telephone call requires conversion to a paging network or a telephone network call to a cellular network call or an internet call to a voice call or a cable television network call to a public telephone network call, all permutations and combinations of these provided by way of example only and others and vice versa. Personal Reach (TM) service available from AT&T permits the calling party to personally reach the called party, in a 2-way telephone conversation, if the called party so chooses.
In the home management art and from banking and credit card use, it is common for an individual to have a personal identification number or PIN uniquely defining the individual. When an individual enters their credit card or bank account number at an automatic teller machine, the individual must also enter their PIN for security purposes. By home management as used herein is intended the management of one's personal or home life. By way of example, utility, banking, burglar alarm, lights, appliance control and the like can be managed remotely, i.e. from a remote location over the telecommunications network. Yet, there is a need in the art to assure security in any transaction, including business and personal home management transactions.
In the private branch exchange art, Arbel et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,276,731, provide a method and apparatus for handling incoming telephone calls to a business exchange whereby the called party may control the screening or routing of incoming calls over time. Predetermined messages may be delivered to predetermined calling parties; incoming calls may be screened on a priority level basis; and incoming calls may be rerouted on the basis of predetermined selection criteria. For example, a doctor taking a vacation may set up a predetermined rerouting of their patients to three doctors handling the vacationing doctor's calls. A shift foreman can schedule incoming calls to other foremen depending on time of day. In one embodiment, calling parties may be instructed to enter a Personal Identification Number (PIN) before the call will be connected. According to U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,497,414 and 5,506,887, there also exist called party control at the network level for control of call routing. A so-called advanced intelligent network (AIN) wireline system connects to and controls processing of calls to a personal communication service subscriber's wireless handset via a home base station or a wireless communication network. For example, in response to incoming calls to the subscriber, if predetermined, the AIN accesses a home location register to determine the current location where the subscriber's handset is located. The AIN can then use that data to route the calls to the subscriber at the preregistered new location. Determination of call processing is thus made as a network feature rather than as a switch feature.
Despite these advances in the telecommunication arts, there remains a need to provide further enhancements to provide called party control of new services including but not limited to store and forward messaging, media conversion, network conversion, home management and so-called Personal Reach or related personal telecommunications routing services.